Man who stabbed wife to death in Cambridge hotel jailed for at least 13 years

Life sentence

Peter Lee,Record staff file photo

A Waterloo Regional Police Service cruiser is parked at the Comfort Inn on Holiday Inn Drive in Cambridge, where a woman was stabbed to death in October 2011. Jorge Moniz, 51, was sentenced on Monday to life in prison with no parole for 13 years in the death of his wife Paula Mare, 38.

KITCHENER — A man who stabbed his wife to death at a Cambridge hotel after she tried to break up with him was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no parole for 13 years.

Jorge Moniz, 51, was emotional throughout a hearing in Kitchener court, rocking in the prisoner's box before giving a brief apology between guttural sobs for the second-degree murder of Paula Mare in 2011.

"I cry every day," he said as his two grown sons and other supportive relatives looked on.

Mare, 38, was the sole breadwinner for the family of four, working full-time as a high school custodian and on weekends as a housekeeper at the Comfort Inn.

She was stabbed a dozen times, including nine times in the hands and arms, when Moniz made a last-ditch attempt to get back together, then attacked her with a dollar-store steak knife as she cleaned a toilet in one of the hotel's rooms.

"It's clear to me that she fought for her life," said Justice James Turnbull.

Moniz then turned the knife on himself, inflicting four wounds to the chest in a failed attempt to kill himself. He was found with his arm over Mare in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor.

Two psychiatrists concluded Moniz suffered from psychotic delusions and depression, exhibiting bizarre behaviour in the months leading up to the murder in October 2011.

He first imagined the family home was contaminated by mould, then believed he had been possessed by evil spirits after getting herbal tea from a Toronto fortune teller to cleanse his body.

Despite his previously undiagnosed mental health issues, however, a court-ordered psychiatrist found Moniz understood his actions and their consequences, both for himself and his common-law wife of 23 years.

As a result, he accepted criminal responsibility for the killing and pleaded guilty in Superior Court in January to a crime that carries an automatic life sentence.

It was Turnbull's task to set parole eligibility, which can range anywhere from 10 to 25 years.

Crown prosecutor Patricia Moore downplayed the role mental illness played in the murder, stressing comments from relatives describing Moniz as "very controlling."

She also noted that Moniz was twice convicted as a young man in the 1980s of abusing girlfriends, including a woman who came forward after publicity around the murder.

Moore argued psychiatrists found strong evidence Moniz faked or exaggerated symptoms of mental illness — including hearing voices — in a bid to escape legal responsibility after his arrest.

"She was ending the relationship and he couldn't have that," she said, calling for parole ineligibility of up to 15 years.

Defence lawyer Bruce Ritter countered that it was understandable for Moniz to exaggerate nevertheless real mental health problems while "looking down the barrel of a first-degree (murder) conviction."

Arguing for parole eligibility after 12 years, he said domestic abuse decades ago shouldn't carry much weight and stressed there were no prior signs of violence in his "generally loving" relationship with Mare.

Unlike the prosecution, Ritter said mental health problems were a key reason why Mare wanted her husband to leave and played a direct role in the eventual killing.

Turnbull said his most important consideration was denouncing the murder of a spouse, which is specified in law as an aggravating factor in any killing.

"No means no," he said. "Nobody in this country should be murdered because they say 'no' to a relationship."

The judge also took Moniz's guilty plea into account, however, and accepted his apology as "genuine and heartfelt."

A central question in the case was whether Moniz bought the knife the day of the attack — along with other kitchen utensils — with the intention of using it on his wife if she refused to reunite.

If so, the killing would likely have been first-degree murder, which involves planning and deliberation and carries automatic 25-year parole ineligibility.

Moniz did not admit to deliberately purchasing the murder weapon as part of his guilty plea to second-degree murder, which is defined as an intentional killing without pre-planning.

Since parole eligibility is counted from the date of arrest, Moniz will first be considered for release in October 2024.